We decided to take the train to avoid traffic and stress, so we left Pordenone at 7:20 am on the fast train and switched in Florence and La Spezia. We got to Levanto around 2 pm, so it was a long day!
 |
| They loaded us up with goodies on this ride! |
The Air B&B hostess met us outside and showed us to the apartment where she had a whole tray of breakfast goodies, milk, yogurt, and water for us! That was so kind of her! We unpacked, and went to explore Levanto. I did try the basil lemon gelato and I will say… it was awful. I was not a fan! 😅 One and done for sure but when in Rome…. We found a park in town that had a teeny trampoline park, so we let the girls do some jumping and playing before getting dinner. I’m glad we arrived early enough to still enjoy the rest of the day!
 |
| Do you see the hot dog happy face? Lol |
Monday morning we got up when the girls woke up, and walked to the train station. It only took us 13 minutes toddler pace, so it wasn’t bad. We bought the Cinque Terre train pass for 2 full days so we didn’t have to book tickets each time we wanted to ride between towns. It was a 10 minute ride from Levanto to Vernazza.
Our first stop in Vernazza was Il Pirata for some tasty breakfast pastries and cappucinos! It was only 0.1 miles up to it and we looooved it. The workers were so friendly when we walked in and spoke great English so we could just chat with them rather than just placing our order. We tried Nutella and blueberry pastries, brioche (which was different than brioche in Aviano), and hot chocolate. It was a great overload of sugar to start the day. 🤤
After we finished up, we wondered down to the water and took in the beautiful view! It was just one Main Street from the train station, so it was less than a half mile total from breakfast and through town. Thank goodness it was easy for the kids because the sun was beating down already! We took a few pictures and browsed a few stores, and then ended back at the train station around 11:30.
Our next stop was Manarola. We strolled down the main road towards the scenic overlook and found Nessun Dorma just in time for it to open. It was very highly recommended for the gorgeous view of Manarola and the water! It was the one thing on my list I didn’t want to give up. It worked out great!! We only waited 10 minutes to get in and had a nice shady spot with a view. The girls loved the prosciutto and melone, and our pesto bruschetta was good! We found the playground afterwards but it was too hot to enjoy, so we walked around and enjoyed the beautiful view.
Monday evening, we picked up some snacks from Conad and enjoyed the “beach” in Levanto. The girls really didn’t care that it wasn’t sandy and had a blast! Emma worked on floating and Ava was all over the place playing. Overall, it was a really great day!! They have the trains running so often that we never stressed about leaving at a certain time to make the train.
 |
| “I floated for 3 seconds by myself!” |
On Tuesday, we took the train to Riomaggiore first. We had a breakfast spot picked out from a recommendation, so we found Il Maggiore and had coffee and breakfast before meeting our boat driver at their office.
We booked a 1 hour boat tour to see all 5 towns with a stop for swimming! As soon as we left, poor Ava started crying and was absolutely terrified to be on the boat. It was rocking back and forth quite a bit, and she mentioned sinking a couple of times. She just clung to me and didn’t want to move for quite a while. When we stopped, Dan dove in the water and Emma climbed down the ladder! She wasn’t a fan of that life jacket so she didn’t go out too far in the wavy water. The color was so blue and beautiful! After the swim stop, Ava held on tight to the rail and the rest of us got a little seasick and didn’t feel too well. Apparently, we don’t handle little boats very well!! We were all happy when we got back to land. 😅
 |
| Our boat! |
We sat for a few minutes recovering then dipped our toes in the water since we were let out right at the beach. Then, we headed to another recommended lunch at Emy’s Way which conveniently was just across the street. We finally were able to try the trofie al pesto which is what they are known for here. A park was just around the corner, so we let the girls have a play break, tried the local gelato, and then we walked through a tunnel to get to the new side of Monterosso.
Monterosso al Mare is the one town everyone said is the beach town… but we found no sand. Everywhere was just rocky! It was no better than what we had played in the day before in our town. The waves were getting too rough so we decided to pack it up and take the train back to Levanto to swim instead. The water was a lot calmer there, so the girls played on the beach for a while. That night, we ate in town for the last time and then packed up!
Wednesday morning we packed up and went back to Vernazza for one last meal at Il Pirata but it was randomly closed! 😭 We went into town and found a place that was open. It ended up being one of the lunch places on our list that we didn’t make it to! So that worked out! Dan’s focaccia bacon and egg sandwich was so good! After breakfast, we had to take the train back to Levanto again, and then we started our long day.
 |
| We hunted for Vespas the whole trip for Luca (Disney movie) |
Our first leg was on our first Innercity train which was so much nicer than the regional trains! We had a table in our group of 4, overhead storage, and plugs. We were on it for almost 3 hours. We actually had time to grab lunch from Rossopomodoro when we switched in Milan to get on the fast train, and then one last switch Venice for our last hour. I feel like we are train pros by now. 💁🏼♀️
Overall ratings:
Dan- 8/10
Krista- 9/10
Emma- 10/10
Ava- Holds up a hand… 5?
No comments:
Post a Comment